11/13/2015

BOOK REVIEW: I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN

Hi. Remember on my last post I wrote that I was reading The Book Thief and hoping to finish that soon? Well, I never got around to it.. *ashamed* I was like 1/4 pages through the book but then I gave up. Not that I dislike the book. It's just that it was like my fourth time reading it and I was kind of bored and was on a reading slump. So yeah.. I practically didn't even read anything in October. (Despite my goal to read at least 4 books each month.)

But on the bright side, I bought some new books recently! Just thought I was going to treat myself. I got myself 3 new books. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness, and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I have only finished I'll Give You the Sun so far. And I'm planning to read the other two later. I have quite high expectations for these books, actually. Because I have heard nothing but great things about them. 

Anyways, here are my review of I'll Give You the Sun. (Spoiler alert)

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson : 4/5 

Some things about what this book is about, it's a story of Noah and Jude, a twins. (Noah is a guy and Jude is a girl, btw.) Noah is more of the awkward and weird one while Jude is popular and outgoing. This book is set in two time periods. The one when they were 13-14 yo is told from Noah's pov. And the other one when they were 16 is told from Jude's. They were really close when they were 13-14 yo, before a tragedy takes place. While when they were 16, after the tragedy, they avoid each other and they were barely themselves. Like you could see 13 yo Noah and 16 yo Noah is like 180 degree different. So is Jude. Throughout the story you start to connect Noah's side of story and Jude's side. 

I like that art was part of the subject in the story. Noah is an aspiring and passionate artist, so there was quite a lot of art references in his pov. Their mother is also someone who admires and appreciates art. When the twins were 13, she suggested that the twins should go to an art school for high school. It wasn't any art school either. It was hard to get in. Noah was thrilled of the idea, of course. While Jude was not. She just wanted to go to a normal high school. But as you read and read, you'll find that Noah was not the one who got accepted. I was quite shocked too. Because I bet when you read it, you could really see that Noah is the better and passionate artist. But then, a shocking fact was revealed too! (I'm not going to tell you what that is as it'll probably ruin your interest).

Noah was also having some hard times with his father. Noah is homosexual, and not everyone knows that. He feels like his father is disappointed in him. To quote Noah, he feels like his father think of him as a broken umbrella. Jude on the other hand, was closer with his father. And she thinks that their mother like Noah better. 

I really enjoy this book. For me it's also about family, loss, death, regret, love, disappointment, passion, jealousy, and being true to yourself. The only thing that annoys me was the ending! Here's the thing. Throughout the book it was like a rollercoaster! Ups and downs. Shocking facts and everything. Despite the strong story, I feel like the ending was rushed and everything just turns out to be perfect. It's not that I don't like perfect ending. This one is just too perfectly perfect. 

I would still recommend you to read this though. Because despite the ending, I think it has a strong and great story :)


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